


Familiar

by cosmicoyote



Series: Marichat May 2020 One-Shots [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Marichat May, Marichat May 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-02-23 05:57:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23973397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicoyote/pseuds/cosmicoyote
Summary: Prompt One: Witch AUMarinette has been trying for months to summon her own familiar  without much luck. She's not ready to give up, and a certain cat is about to waltz his way into her kitchen.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: Marichat May 2020 One-Shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1728427
Comments: 6
Kudos: 107





	Familiar

**Author's Note:**

> Yes! Marichat May is here! This is my first Marichat May and also my first love square month! I hope you guys like my quirky one-shots. :)
> 
> This one is based sort of on Sabrina with traces of other witch universes magic-wise. I hope you like it!

The loud bubbling and hissing of her cooking pot (or cauldron depending on who you asked) filled the kitchen as Marinette paced about. The jars along the walls placed neatly on shelves contained everything from dried herbs to pickled animal eyes. Those were mostly being ignored apart from an opened jar containing mint now resting on the overcrowded table in the center of the room.

At least a dozen books were laid out all over the wooden kitchen table and looked a little worse for ware from being turned violently over and over again. The witch in training generally didn't like to react so forcefully with her reading material, but she was the tiniest bit frustrated.

See, it had been just over a month since Marinette turned sixteen. In her mother's coven, that was when her fellow witches started seeing her as less of a child and more of a witch in training. Her mother had been more involved with her teaching and lessons now that she was old enough. Her magical abilities were showing more strongly after first appearing nearly a decade before. Back then, she had been too young to control her abilities. Magic sprang out of her and tended to knock things over and send random objects around the room. Their magic was meant to be focused on vessels (such as a wand or jar) to channel their powers safely instead of exploding out of them.

As she grew older, Marinette was able to control her abilities. She mostly focused on basic spells and potions with minimal consequence if done incorrectly. Now, she was ready for the next level of magical studies.

One of the most powerful creatures a witch could ally herself with was a familiar. Familiars looked like regular animals at times, but they were shape-shifters that had the ability to channel witch magic safely and strengthen it. Marinette had wanted her own familiar ever since she met her mother's.

Her mom had a familiar that preferred the form of a Red Panda. Tikki was sweet and gentle but also protective - just like Sabine. She enjoyed riding on her mother's shoulders and observing everything that went on. She even helped her mother perform magical tasks. Marinette's mother was a renowned potion maker and was able to concoct extraordinary magical remedies while lacing them into treats. For example, her fever reducing potion tasted exactly like lemonade or orange juice. It let the medicine go down more easily since it was pleasant tasting.

Sabine also giggled like a school girl when she told Marinette about a time she had mixed love potion into macarons and made one of her old crushes swoon in her presence for hours. Jokes aside, her mother was great at what she did.

Marinette preferred to design dresses, robes, and even boots and hats, but she enjoyed making potions, too. Coloring potions were fun for her because they acted like human dye but held color a lot longer and could even be stain resistant! Those particular mixtures were exciting to read about and try out... even if she had ruined multiple pieces in the process. One memorable incident was with a white shirt she had been trying to make multiple different colors. However, the shirt ended up looking like she had pinned it to the wall and chucked overly ripe fruits of various colors at it full force. She kept it as a reminder that mistakes would happen, but she could learn from them. It only took her what felt like a hundred more tries before getting the desired colors.

Speaking of trying and failing...

Marinette had been attempting to summon a familiar for herself. The relationship her mother had with Tikki was special and deep because Tikki had been with her mother since she was younger than Marinette. She wanted a familiar of her own: a companion, a vessel for magic, and even a protector.

Familiars could get aggressive when it came to protecting their masters. Tikki may normally look like a Red Panda, but she had another form Marinette had seen: a petite but intimidating woman who looked to be in her late twenties with fiery red curls and piercing indigo eyes. She moved like a dancer with her agile and fluid motions. She had fought off some minor demons that had wondered onto their property. Sabine had used her own magic to blast them, but Tikki used her fists and feet to teach the demons a lesson in trespassing.

Afterwards when the surviving demons ran off yelping, Tikki had changed back into her Red Panda form and slept for most of the rest of the day. Taking on a human-like form and channeling magic costed Tikki a lot of energy, but she had told them later it was her duty to protect Sabine and her family. Sabine had tended to her familiar and assured her familiar in turn that she was part of the family. The two shared many fond memories together.

Marinette wanted that same thing: that bond and trust.

Her mother and herself were generally on their own - only meeting with their coven once a month or so. The young witch was lonely, but this was their way of life. Normally, witches in their coven would also live with aunts and female cousins, but none of her aunts tolerated her mother after marrying a mortal man and siring Marinette. Their coven was less traditional and, luckily, more accepting, but that left Marinette with just her mother family-wise.

She wanted a friend to talk to and have adventures with just like Sabine had with Tikki for many years now.

However, Marinette was struggling with the spell. Her blood mixed with a certain assortment of herbs and other ingredients was supposed to summon her own familiar. Another problem was she could only try to summon them during a full moon, so she only got maybe three tries each time per month since the brew took a few hours to make. She lost count of her attempts, but it had been close to a year.

Her mother had assured her that familiars came when both they and their new master were ready to accept them, but Marinette wasn't always one for patience.

"It took me a half a year to meet Tikki," her mother had told her after her tenth failed summons. She had made Marinette calming herbal tea and assured her that she would get a familiar; she just needed to keep trying.

And try she has.

Marinette rubbed at her eyes. She was up late, and this would be her last chance this cycle to brew the summoning draft. The moon would disappear, and she would need to wait for the next completed cycle. The brew needed to simmer for four hours and then have a sage stick composed of herbs burned along with it.

She sleepily walked over to the shelf and fumbled before grabbing the last herb she needed. It was a mint herb that gave off a strong smell that familiars were drawn to. She laid it in the paper then rolled it into a stick. She then poured her finished potion into a bowl. It was bubbling and looked as if someone had liquefied old brownies, but she knew she could change that. 

Slowly, Marinette drew a dagger from her table and held her hand over the potion. She carefully began to chant, the words coming naturally and easily after so many failures. She then sliced her palm and let the blood she drew dribble into the potion. The brew hissed and steamed as it turned a periwinkle color - a much more pleasant sight as far as she was concerned.

Then she twirled the herbal stick over the potion and said another enchantment. The air around her seemed to shift as her words were released into the air. The wind outside seemed to pick up in intensity, and the air sizzled with energy. 

Marinette frowned. That had never happened before. The book didn't mention the atmospheric change. She swallowed then held up the stick as the end suddenly ignited, the purple-colored flames momentarily burning into her eyes before sizzling down to a smoking end. The smoke swirled out delicately, and Marinette began to chant as she waved the stick around.

The smoke enveloped the room and filled her senses. She grimaced at the sharp tang, but she ignored it and allowed the incense to fill her. She felt as if her blood was simmering like the potion before her.

She finished the incantation. At once, the fire in the grate behind her blew out along with the various candles scattered throughout the room and plunged her into total darkness.

Real fear creeped up her spine as she looked around - the only light coming through the window from the moon. Her heart thudded painfully against her ribs like a frantic bird trying to escape its cage. She felt as if she was being watched...

Watched. Or being stalked.

And that was a pleasant thought.

She hastily felt around for she had dropped the burning stick in her panic. Before she could locate it, a low rumble like thunder could be heard from the general direction of the window. Marinette swallowed, not remembering seeing heavy clouds in the sky that evening. A storm is just what she needed.

Marinette gulped when the rumble didn't stop as was normal for thunder. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen a flash of lightning either. A weird prickling sensation had the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up, and she turned around to stare out the window.

The trouble was, there was no way she could look outside because someone was currently crouching on her windowsill.

Marinette gripped the kitchen table behind her as her back hit it with a soft BOOM! Her eyes were glued to the figure silhouetted against the moonlight as her heart continued to insist on beating a permanent bruise against her sternum.

The figure was humanoid in shape, but the legs and arms were bent into a shape that resembled that of a crouching animal instead of a human sitting. Vivid green eyes glowed in the darkness, and they were locked onto hers with an intensity that did nothing to calm her frantic heart.

"He-Hello?" Marinette stammered.

The rumbling continued as the figure slowly lowered its legs to the floor but remained sitting on the windowsill.

Marinette grabbed up her largest candle and cupped her hand around the wick which lit after a whispered word. The flame blared to life and illuminated the figure's face.

The intruder was a young man around her age. He wore a black leather jacket and matching jeans and boots. On top of his head was a pair of.... cat ears? Over his vivid green eyes, he wore a mask that outlined his glowing irises and slit pupils. He was smiling at her like a cat that had just cornered a mouse.

Fear made her gulp, but there was an opposing feeling that was warming her stomach. The young man appeared muscled, and if she wasn't mistaken, sharp claws adorned his gloved hands that looked more than capable of shredding flesh. However, as intense as his gaze was, instinct told her he would not harm her. It was just a feeling she had and could no sooner explain that feeling than how he had somehow made it onto her windowsill without her hearing him.

"Hello yourself," murmured the stranger.

Marinette gulped. His voice was pleasant, and the warmth in her stomach intensified. 

"Who... who are you?" Marinette asked nervously. "What are you doing here?"

He chuckled and leaned against the side of her window, drawing his leg up to rest his foot on the sill and put his arm around his knee. He picked casually at his claws then shifted his weight. 

"To answer your questions: my name is Chat Noir, and I'm here," he lifted his eyes from his dagger-like nails to stare into hers once more. "Because you summoned me, of course."

Something moved behind him, and Marinette's eyes were pulled from his for the first time since she caught sight of him. The movement was a rhythmic swishing that had her momentarily hypnotized. It was a tail!

Her eyes widened in wonder, and she spluttered, "But- I summoned a familiar! I mean..." she gulped. "You have ears and a tail, but your still a-... a boy."

Chat Noir threw back his head and barked a laugh. The sound had her chest warming now at the oddly comforting sound. Her heart began to slow down and steady as the seconds ticked by.

"Begging your pardons... Princess," he murmured, taking in her long-sleeved dress that admittedly was based on older designs. "But I _am_ a familiar." He gestured at his cat ears that poked out of his blond hair. As she watched, they rotated as if he heard something interesting. His tail, which was jet black like his clothing and moved apparently independently of the rest of him, wiggled lazily behind him.

"But..." Marinette summoned her courage as she relaxed a little more and became more indignant because this... anthropomorphic creature didn't look a thing like Tikki in her human shape, and she could only maintain that form for so long. "You don't look like... one."

At this, Chat Noir's ears went flat and his tail began to twitch irritably. "I assure you, little lady, I _am_ a familiar." He scowled at her then began to pout as he lowered his eyes down to his lap and lounged on his perch. His confidence seemed to have been sucked out of him like a vacuum. He huffed and gripped his knees up to his chest. 

"I... I'm sorry. I'm probably not what you expected." He sounded so defeated, Marinette couldn't help but feel bad for him. She approached the sad cat boy and stuffed away her discomfort in order to reach up. Instinct, like when she was convinced before that she just knew he wouldn't harm her, drove her to gently run her fingers through his hair. 

He stiffened then slowly began relaxing into her touch. She rubbed one of his cat ears, and the rumbling she had heard earlier reached her ears once more.

She hadn't heard thunder before; he had been purring!

Shivering, Chat Noir's eyes opened at half mast, looking at her with reverence. His purr continued to reverberate in his chest so intensely, she felt it through touching his ears.

Marinette giggled because he looked just like a lazy house cat getting pets. She gently scratched behind his adorable cat ears for another moment before dropping her hand. "Don't apologize. I just.. was expecting like... an animal." The moment her fingers parted company with his hair, the purring ceased.

Chat Noir snorted and stretched. "If that's all it was..." He flexed his shoulders, and Marinette gasped and stepped back as black smoke billowed from his body. It engulfed him completely for a moment then dissolved. As it faded, the boy was gone and replaced by a long-haired black cat with gleaming green eyes.

He meowed and licked his paw delicately before rubbing it behind his pointed ears. "See, I can be a cat."

Marinette giggled then, in a rush of excitement, she scooped up her new familiar and swung him around. She ignored his indignant yowls as she danced around the kitchen with a screaming cat in her arms. She only stopped when he cried out, "HEY! I'M GONNA BE SICK ALL OVER YOU IF YOU DON'T STOOOOP!" he wailed.

The young witch faltered and stared down at the wide-eyed feline in her arms. "Oh! S-Sorry. I got... carried away."

His eyes were crossed as he recovered from the sudden spinning and looking like a cat getting off of an out of control marry-go-round. He blinked rapidly then shook his head to clear it. "S'okay," he slurred as he recovered.

Marinette smiled and cradled him lovingly, affection for him swelling in her heart as he blinked up at her. She scratched him gently under his chin with her finger, and he closed his eyes. His purr was just as deafening in this form as his humanoid one.

"Wanna stay, Chaton?" the young witch asked as she rubbed his ears and coaxed more rumblings from him.

His ears twitched and his purr sputtered. "Can I make... conditions?" he asked timidly.

She blinked, not expecting him to ask that but going along with it anyway. "Sure, minou. Like what?"

He shifted nervously in her arms and looked off to the side. "I know the relationship is supposed to be... a master and familiar, but it seems... demeaning to me. It's almost like my freedom would be taken away."

"Oh," Marinette said quietly. She hadn't thought of it that way. Tikki and her mom seemed more like friends than a master and servant or... pet, she guessed. She frowned and tapped her chin, thinking it through for a bit. Familiars and witches worked together: witches unleashing their magic while familiars channeled and strengthened the spell to make it more powerful. Her mother's potions lasted longer or worked more quickly when Tikki helped her, she noticed. They worked more like companions... like partners.

"That's it!" she said out loud, and Chat winced, his hair a little on end from her sudden rise in volume. "We'll be partners! How does that sound, Chaton? Wanna be partners?" She rubbed his head again.

"Absolutely!" Chat Noir leaned into her hand, his green eyes twinkling up at her. "Consider me yours, Princess!" 

She smiled and massaged his cheeks before placing a warm kiss on his forehead.

"So," Marinette said as she put him down gently on her kitchen table. "If you don't mind me asking... what made you pick me?"

Chat Noir flicked a pointed ear and tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"I've... I've been trying for months to summon a familiar to see if we could bond." She fidgeted with the sleeve of her dress. "I was almost starting to believe... I didn't have one."

Chat showed his sharp fangs in a grin. "Your energy felt... different than others. You're not the only witch trying to get her familiar, ya know." He lifted a paw and licked it delicately before rubbing it over his whiskered cheeks. "But what sealed the deal for me was the delightful herb you used in your incense stick." He looked around then spotted the object in question before pawing it, now just smoking faintly near one of her many spell books.

"But it's just a regular burning stick." Marinette frowned as she sniffed at it. "We have sage ones for expelling bad energy, and others like this one with mint attract-"

"Wait." Chat rolled onto his back and batted at the pages of the nearest book. He was pretty cute, she had to admit. "Did you say 'mint'?"

"Yeah." Marinette lit a few more candles so she could see the books. "It's a refreshing herb."

"Um, I hate to taint the reputation of your... refreshing herb, but that's not mint." The black cat wiggled on his back and stretched with a lazy yawn. 

"Then... what is it?" Marinette asked, picking up the stick and taking a sniff. She frantically looked at the jar she had pulled from the shelf, and her heart dropped as she realized, in her tired state, she had grabbed the wrong dried leaves.

Chat Noir snickered and pawed at the smoking object in her hand. "It's catnip."

The witch in training laughed at the weirdness of it all. So, she messed up the summoning ritual, but she had gotten her familiar, anyway.

Her new familiar chuckled as well and jumped up to rest comfortably on her shoulder. He laid down behind her neck and stretched as if he had always belonged there. His warmth was comforting and felt... right.

"I hope we have a lot of adventures!" he said eagerly, his fluffy tail swishing excitedly.

"Sure, minou," she murmured. "When I'm older and a fully trained witch, we will. But for now," she gestured at the books, "it'll be mostly studying and failed spells at home."

Chat huffed. "I guess we have to start somewhere." He was purring again, and she felt a fresh wave of energy as she rides her euphoria of finally having a familiar.

"Then let me show you how I make color-changing potions for my clothes, Chaton!" she said eagerly as she gathered her ingredients.

He chuckled. "Sure. Just don't get any of that potion on me." He groomed his face with his paws again lazily. "I am a very handsome cat, but I don't look so hot in pink."

Marinette laughed as she started putting together her potion, thinking this would be the start of a beautiful partnership.

**Author's Note:**

> Whoo! Okay, day one is done, and I'm pumped! I'll try and work on prompts on a daily basis, but with how hectic life's been, it'll be unlikely. I'll try my best!
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated. :)


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